Are aquatic plants really endangered in Tajikistan (core area of the Mountains of central Asia global biodiversity hotspot)?

Abstract

Recent evaluation of the conservation status of all native plant taxa in Tajikistan revealed that plants of wet habitats are among the most threatened in the country. As aquatic plants are frequently overlooked in the field and misidentified, we aimed to test their reported rarity in Tajikistan. To achieve this, we performed field inventory of vascular plants in different types of waterbodies, mainly in South Tajikistan and southern part of East Pamir. We revealed five new taxa for Tajikistan (Lemna × japonica Landolt, Nymphaea odorata Aiton, Potamogeton alpinus Balb., P. praelongus Wulf., Ranunculus rionii Lagger) and provided additional phytogeographic regions of growing for 22 aquatic species, demonstrating their wider distribution than previously known. We detected a decline of aquatic plant biodiversity in the unique tugai landscape of the Tigrovaya Balka nature reserve. The revealed role of Central Asian alpine waterbodies as hotspots of aquatic plant biodiversity should attract additional attention to their conservation in the face of increasing tourist flow. Taken together, the available data suggest the need for future monitoring of aquatic flora in Central Asia that should lead to reevaluation of the species conservation status and new editions of the Red lists.